Dear Trump Supporter

 
Dear Trump Supporter,
 
Let’s have a conversation. You don’t know me, but I’m a writer of short fiction, and this is my blog. I grew up in the Midwest, and I had a good education but no advanced degrees or anything. I’m spending my retirement years trying to understand what’s happening to our world, and my writing helps me do that. And, through this blog, you can help me, too.
 
Maybe Donald Trump is a very nice person. Maybe if I met him, I’d fall under his spell. But I kind of doubt it. I could never have imagined when I was growing up that I’d have a president like Donald Trump.

Here’s the thing about Trump—one of the things. He tells lies, lots of them. He’s been caught in lies thousands of times. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, telling a lie was what we were told never to do. If someone lies, we were taught, if you lie, no one will trust anything you say ever again. So we didn’t lie—well, only once in a while when we found ourselves in a pickle and needed to get out of it. But we felt bad when we lied. We knew it was the wrong thing to do.
 
Now, everybody knows that Trump lies. He tells lies all the time. Even Fox News knows he lies. But the thing is why does he lie? And why does he not care that once people know he’s a liar, they realize they can’t trust anything else he says? Can we, for instance, trust any of his comments after the horrifying mass shooting in El Paso? Probably not.
 
He seems to enjoy his lies, or maybe he can’t help himself. But why? Does he get a kick out of trying to put one over on the world, on me, on you, trusting that you’ll go along with even bald-faced lies that are obviously false? Does he think you are not very smart?
 
Or does his lying come out of fear? If he tells the truth, people might not like him, and Trump really wants to be liked. Or if he stops lying, maybe people won’t find him entertaining enough. So he keeps up his lying, maybe not even aware he’s doing it.
 
Anyway, friend, I’m just trying to figure it all out. In “Comment” below, let me know why you think his lying is OK. Or if you don’t, let me know that, too.
 
All best to you and your family,
 
J.